Comprehensive Steel
Our complete steel industry glossary provides detailed definitions and explanations of over 180 technical terms, acronyms, and specialised terminology used throughout the iron and steel sector. This extensive reference resource covers all aspects of ferrous metallurgy, from raw materials and steelmaking processes to finished products and industry standards.
The glossary encompasses key areas including blast furnace operations, electric arc furnace steelmaking, continuous casting, hot and cold rolling, surface treatments, product specifications, quality control measures, and environmental technologies. Whether you're a steel industry professional, student, investor, or anyone seeking to understand steel terminology, this dictionary serves as an invaluable reference tool. For in-depth guides on specific topics, see our Steel Industry Essentials.
Search and Filter Terms
180 terms displayed
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| ADC | Apparent domestic consumption. See apparent consumption or view our steel consumption analysis page |
| ADI | Acciaierie d'Italia. Italian steel plant, formerly known as Ilva, based in Taranto. The plant was for many years one of the largest steel production sites in Europe. Ownership reverted from the Riva family to the Italian government in 2012 when major environmental misdemeanours came to light. ArcelorMittal took majority control of the Taranto plant in 2017. |
| Alloy steel | Refers to steels made with deliberate additions of one or more alloying elements during steelmaking to enhance the properties of the steel. The most common alloying elements are Mn, Cr, Mo and Ni |
| Anneal | Refers in metallurgy to heat treatment which is used to impart changes in mechanical properties such as strength and hardness. Typically, the annealing process is used to induce softness and to relieve stress, allowing the steel to be further worked |
| AOD | Argon-Oxygen Decarburisation. A secondary steelmaking process in which oxygen and argon are blown into the molten steel. Enables carbon to be removed without oxidising chromium. Main method of refining stainless steel (see also VOD) |
| API | American Petroleum Institute - the trade association that represents the US oil and gas industry. The API also has an important role in the development of industry standards which have broad international acceptance and which include steel grades (for example) for use in oil and gas transmission pipelines |
| Apparent consumption | The mathematical sum of production plus imports minus exports. The difference between 'apparent' consumption and 'real' consumption is that the latter definition also recognises changes in stock levels. The phrase 'apparent consumption' is often used interchangeably with 'apparent domestic consumption' (abbreviated ADC) |
| ASU | Apparent steel use. Another way of referring to apparent steel consumption |
| Bar-in-coil | Steel bar [round, square or hexagonal] that is in coiled form, rather than in lengths. Bar products 10mm in diameter and below are typically coiled |
| Base metals | The glossary term typically refers to the set of easily corroding [non-ferrous] metals that includes copper, aluminium, lead, nickel, tin and zinc |
| BAT | Best available technique. Typically used in the context of environmental performance, BATs have supporting technical reference documents known as BREFs, which are reference benchmarks |
| Beneficiation | Reference in the mining industry to the process of separating ore by crushing and other means into mineral and waste products |
| Billet | A semi-finished long product of up to 150 mm square cross-section with round corners. Billets can be continuously cast or hot rolled from either ingots or larger concast billets and blooms. They are re-rolled or forged into other forms. Semi-Finished Steel Products Guide |
| Black plate | Glossary phrase refers to uncoated cold rolled steel, typically thin gauge material between 0.14-0.5 mm thick. The most common application of black plate is production of tinplate for the packaging industry |
| Bloom | A semi-finished long product of greater than 150 mm square or rectangular cross-section. Blooms can be produced by continuous casting or by rolling from ingot. Continuously cast rounds of 300mm diameter or greater are also referred to as blooms |
| Body-in-white | Glossary item refers to car body shell after the welding stage but prior to painting of the steel |
| BOF | Basic oxygen furnace, which converts hot metal (pig iron from the blast furnace) into liquid steel by blowing oxygen into the furnace to remove carbon as carbon monoxide gas. Steel Plant Equipment Guide |
| BREF | Stands for best reference and refers to best available technique documentation which is often used as a benchmark environmental performance measure |
| BRIC | Reference to Brazil, Russia, India and China. In iron and steel, these BRIC countries are notable because of their high expected economic growth rates in the coming 20-30 years and the consequent implication for growth in future steel demand. Compared to the industrialised world, the BRIC countries also have relatively low labour costs and / or access to low cost energy or steelmaking raw materials making them strategically attractive locations for the manufacture of steel |
| Bright drawing | The cold drawing of steel bars through a die in order to produce a product with close dimensional tolerances, improved mechanical properties and a bright finish. Shotblasting or pickling to remove surface scale is normally carried out prior to bright drawing |
| Campaign | Period of continuous blast furnace operation: 20-25 years represents a fairly typical campaign |
| Capacity creep | Trend for slow increase in capacity over a period of years, arising because of learning, incremental investment, modernisation of maintenance practices etc. In the steel sector, capacity creep results in steel plant capacity increasing on average by perhaps 0.5% to 1% per annum. Global Steel Capacity Guide |
| CAPL | Continuous annealing and processing line, used for the production of cold rolled steel. The continuous anneal process is to be distinguished from batch annealing. Whilst the former is better suited to high volume production (e.g. on automotive-dedicated production lines) the latter is best suited to small job lots and / or speciality grades. Steel End-Use Applications Guide |
| Carburisation | Process of introduction of carbon into steel - typically involving heat treatment - to improve surface hardness |
| Cast iron | A ferrous alloy with more than 2.1% carbon content and typically also with significant amounts of silicon, normally in the 1 - 3% range |
| CBAM | Mechanism for adjusting steel import price in order to compensate for higher carbon emissions associated with steel production in other countries |
| CCS | Carbon capture and storage. Refers to process for capture and long-term sequestration of carbon dioxide. In steel operations, this can involve making use of the CO2 in underground oilfields, where it can assist with enhanced oil recovery |
| Charging | The process of loading materials into a furnace |
| Cobble | An incident when bar that is being hot rolled either jams in the mill guides, resulting in delays to reset the guides and rolls, or comes out of its normal rolling trajectory, frequently landing (often at high speed) in the area adjacent to the rolling mill stands |
| Coke | A solid carbon based product derived from baking bituminous coal at high temperature to remove volatile constituents. Metallurgical coke ['met coke'] is used as the main fuel in the smelting of iron ore in a blast furnace |
| Cold finishing | Processing of steel either with surface removal (polishing, grinding, peeling) or without surface removal (e.g. through wire drawing), primarily for further machining into shapes such as gears, shafts, hydraulic fittings etc |
| Cold heading | Also known as cold upsetting, or fastener production. Glossary term refers to the production of nuts and bolts through cold deformation |
| Cold roll formed sections | The term usually refers to hot rolled steel (although it can be cold rolled steel) that is roll formed [or 'bent'] cold into angles, channels or shaped / corrugated sheet. The word 'cold' refers to the forming process, not to the type of steel that is used |
| Consteel® | Steelmaking process in which the raw feed materials are heated and charged continuously into an EAF and melted by immersion in the liquid steel present in the electric furnace |
| Continuous casting | A process in which molten steel is poured into a water-cooled copper mould for gradual solidification as it is drawn down the caster, turning into a solid steel billet, bloom, or slab. Compared to ingot casting, continuous casting has evolved as the preferred method for making semi-finished steel because of much better yield, productivity and cost performance |
| Corex ® | Reduction process for production of hot metal from iron ore using coal. Key advantages over traditional integrated steelmaking include the ability to use non-coking coal [eliminating the need for coke batteries] and the ability to iron ore pellets [eliminating the need for sinter plant] |
| Cost price squeeze | Refers to the long term trend in the steel sector for new technology to lead to cost improvements - for example through introduction of continuous casting replacing ingot casting - meaning reductions over time of overall price and cost levels. The trend is sometimes quantified as an erosion of nominal revenue of ~1% per annum or more. Steel Production Costs Guide |
| Crystallisation | The process through which the atoms of iron and carbon present in liquid steel solidify by arranging themselves into a well-defined three-dimensional lattice |
| CSP | Compact strip production - see glossary under 'thin slab casting' |
| D-bar | Deformed bar - the most common form of reinforcing bar |
| Decarburisation | The loss of carbon at the surface of steel. It is caused by exposure of the surface to oxidising conditions at high temperature |
| Deep drawing steel | Low carbon steel strip with a microstructure to enable it to be extensively pressed or drawn without tearing or failure |
| DMTU | Dry metric tonne unit. A metric tonne unit is equivalent to 1% of a metric tonne (i.e. 1% of 1000 kg) and equals 10 kilograms. Iron ore prices are commonly expressed in terms of cents per DMTU. |
| DNV | Det Norske Veritas - independent foundation based in Norway with objective of safeguarding life, property, and the environment - with an important role in product certification |
| DRI | Direct reduced iron - a residual-free scrap substitute. See Green Steel & Decarbonisation Guide for hydrogen-based DRI technologies |
| EAF | Electric arc furnace - a furnace that melts (and thus recycles) steel scrap for the production of liquid steel using electrical power. See Steel Scrap & Recycling Guide |
| ECSC | European Coal and Steel Community - the original version of what is now known as the European Community. Founded by the Treaty of Paris in 1952, the ECSC was based on the principle of member nations sharing their coal and steel resources |
| ECX | European Climate Exchange - marketplace for trading carbon dioxide emissions |
| EGL | Electrogalvanised - typically used to describe electrolytically zinc coated sheet steel |
| EIA | Environmental impact assessment - an appraisal of the environmental impact of a project during both construction and operation phases, and of future compliance with relevant regulatory requirements |
| Electrical steel | Cold rolled strip with containing up to 6% Si and cold rolled and annealed to give specific magnetic properties and high electrical resistivity. They can be grain-oriented (GO) to give preferred magnetic properties in the rolled direction or non-grain oriented (NGO) to give uniform properties. The strips or laminations are usually lacquer coated to increase electrical resistivity when assembled into cores for transformers, electric motors, etc |
| EPC | Engineering Procurement and Construction - A type of building contract that is often used for complex projects whereby which the builder (or EPC contractor) delivers the completed project on a turnkey basis. |
| ERW | Electrical resistance weld: welding by the process of passing of an electric current through two metals. Resistance to the current creates heat, melting the metal (often under some force) and thus forming the weld. ERW pipes are typically 1/8-24 inches in diameter [3-600mm] which distinguishes them from large diameter pipe. Steel Pipe & Tube Guide |
| ESR | Electro-Slag Remelting. (Also known as EFR, electro-flux remelting) method of producing refined ingots with fewer inclusions and reduced segregation. The process consists of melting a cast or wrought electrode through a molten slag and solidifying in a water cooled copper mould. An electrical current is passed through the electrode and the electrical resistance of the slag provides the heat to melt the electrode. The resultant ESR ingot is then conventionally hot forged or rolled |
| ESTEP | Acronym for European Steel Technology Platform - a body focused on strategic research undertaken for various European and National Research Ministries |
| ETS | Emissions trading scheme - a system for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, based on pricing of CO2 output |
| Ferroalloy | Alloy of iron with high proportion of an element such as nickel, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, manganese etc that used in the production of steel |
| Finex ® | Smelting reduction process based on reduction and melting of non-agglomerated iron ore fines using thermal coal [i.e. non-coking coal] as the main energy source |
| FIOR | Direct reduction process based on the use of iron ore fines to make iron units. FIOR is an acronym for Fluidised Iron Ore Reduction |
| Flux | A substance such as limestone which is added to a furnace and which reacts with impurities to form a slag |
| Full hard | Refers to cold rolled sheet steel that has not been softened by annealing |
| GA | Common abbreviation for galvanneal |
| Galvanneal | Refers to a sheet steel product that is annealed after hot dip galvanising with zinc. The additional annealing step produces an external zinc-iron alloy coating which gives the coated steel product exceptional corrosion resistance |
| Gauge | Another term for the thickness of sheet steel. Learn more about hot rolled coil gauges |
| GI | Galvanised iron, a common name for hot dip galvanised steel |
| Greenhouse gas | Name collectively refers to a group of gases which trap radiation leaving the Earth. The main GHGs responsible for the resulting climate change are carbon dioxide CO2, methane CH4 and nitrous oxide N2O. The full GHG list also includes water vapour H20, ozone O3, sulphur hexafluoride SF6 and several other halogen-containing hydrocarbons |
| Grey iron | Basic form of cast iron that is relatively easy and inexpensive to produce. Grey iron ['gray iron'] is suitable for making a wide range of castings including valve, pump, rail and auto applications |
| Hardenability | The hardenability of a steel is its ability to be hardened at depth in quenching. As a general rule, the hardenability of low alloy steels increases with alloy content |
| Hardness | Hardness is a measure of the resistance of a steel to indentation and is related to the maximum strength of the steel. Typical hardness measurement scales are Vickers, Brinell and Rockwell |
| HBI | Compacted DRI, formed into briquettes for easier handling. The briquettes are commonly known as hot briquetted iron |
| HDG | Hot dip galvanised - describes a zinc coating obtained by dipping steel sheet into a bath of molten zinc. Flat-Rolled Steel Guide |
| HICP | Humber Industrial Cluster Plan - a collaborative initiative centred around the east coast of Northern England that plans to enable a series of industrial partners (including firms from the iron and steel, chemicals, power generation and other sectors) to attain net zero carbon emissions by 2040, using offshore wind power, carbon capture and storage as well as hydrogen |
| High speed tool steels | Glossary term refers to a range of metal-cutting tool steels that retain their hardness at red heat. The compositions are based upon high carbon steels with significant additions of W, Mo, V, Cr and in some cases Co |
| Hismelt | Direct ironmaking process, based on use of iron ore fines and non-coking coal for the production of hot metal |
| HMS1, HMS2 | HMS1 and HMS2 are the preferred forms of scrap for the production of steel. Both are defined as obsolete scrap - which is generated when a steel product comes to the end of its working life. HMS denotes 'heavy melting scrap' [sometimes 'heavy melting steel']. HMS1 comprises clean iron and steel with a minimum thickness of 1/4" and a defined maximum size [e.g. 60"x24" wide]. HMS2 is similarly defined but has a minimum thickness of 1/8". Learn more about steel scrap recycling |
| Hot metal | Another term for pig iron (see glossary entry below) - the product made in a blast furnace |
| Hot band | North American term for hot rolled coil |
| HRC | Common abbreviation for hot rolled coil. Flat-Rolled Steel Products Guide |
| HSAW | Helical submerged arc welded pipe - a type of large diameter pipe, usually over 20 inches in diameter. Also known as SSAW pipe |
| HSLA | High strength low alloys: a type of alloy steel that provides better mechanical properties or greater resistance to corrosion than carbon steel |
| HSM | Common abbreviation for hot strip mill - used for the production of hot rolled steel coil |
| HYBRIT | Hydrogen breakthrough ironmaking technology. The acronym was first adopted by Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB who in 2016 set up a joint venture company called HYBRIT Development. The technology seeks to attain completely fossil-free steelmaking by 2035. Green Steel Guide |
| iBLUE® | Tenova technology that combines production of high carbon DRI using hydrogen from blast furnace grade iron ore pellets with electric arc melter to produce Hot Metal and granulated slag. |
| IISI | International Iron & Steel Institute. Former name of World Steel Association (WSA) - one of the leading world steel industry associations |
| Inclusion | Steel impurity - most often an oxide or a sulphide - which can have a detrimental impact on mechanical properties |
| Induction furnace | Furnace is which steel is heated by a process of induction, whereby electromagnetic coils that surround the furnace heat the steel by generation of eddy currents within the metal. Relatively speaking, the process is both very clean with respect to emissions and fairly energy efficient |
| Ingot | Mass of metal obtained from casting liquid steel into a mould. The resulting ingot - a semi-finished product - is typically then hot rolled or forged |
| Interstitial-free | Interstitial-free (IF) steels have few solute interstitial elements, such as carbon and nitrogen. These interstices can be sources of strain and may result in brittleness |
| IPPC | Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. To obtain an IPPC permit a business must prove that its applied technologies are equivalent or better than 'best available', as defined by the European Council Directive |
| JORC | Joint Ore Reserves Committee. The Australasian JORC Committee, established in 1971, sets out the JORC Code - a code of practice that defines international standards for public reporting of iron ore reserve data. |
| Killed steel | Steel that has its oxygen content reduced - typically through addition of aluminium. Hence the term aluminium killed |
| KPI | Key performance indicator. For example, EAF energy use in kWh/tonne is a widely-used melt shop performance indicator. |
| Ladle metallurgy | A process step typically applied in a ladle furnace for alloying, deoxidation, desulphurisation as well as for temperature adjustment prior to casting of quality steels |
| LDP | Definition in size terms varies but trade and other statistics frequently define large diameter pipe as over 16 inches (or 406.4mm) in diameter. Large pipe of this size is invariably welded rather than seamless, and can be produced by longitudinal or spiral welding for applications that often include gas and oil transport |
| LME | London Metal Exchange - leading non-ferrous metals market in the UK |
| Long ton | Measure of weight used in the UK prior to metrication. The long ton is equivalent to 2240 pounds or approximately 1016 kg. See also under glossary term short ton and tonne below |
| LSAW | Longitudinal submerged arc welded pipe - a type of large diameter pipe, usually over 16 inches in diameter. Steel Pipe & Tube Guide |
| Merchant bar | A category of light long products comprising steel bars shaped as rounds, squares, hexagonals, rectangles, flats etc used mainly as support structures for building, construction, machinery. Merchant bar is to be distinguished from reinforcing bar (which is used to reinforce concrete) and from engineering steel (which often ends up moving rather than being stationary). Long Steel Products Guide |
| MHPT | Man hours per tonne - a common measure of labour force or process productivity |
| Micro mill | Term denoting a relatively small-scale EAF-based minimill, with production capacity at or below 250 kt / year. A particular characteristic of the micro mill is low cost steel supply. This is achieved by the small scale of the micro mill; by local scrap collection (thus avoiding high scrap transport costs); and by locating the micro mill close to steel end-users (again, avoiding high freight costs for the finished product) |
| Micum index | The percentages of coke remaining in a given size-band after rotating a coke sample within a drum for a given time. The index is a measure of the strength of coke against both impact and abrasion |
| MIDA | MIDA Mill: a low-capacity steel plant for regional markets that, thanks to its innovative technological solutions, can compete in term of CapEx and OpEx with steel plants with much higher capacity |
| Midrex ® | Direct reduction process for converting iron ore into direct reduced iron (DRI) for iron and steelmaking |
| Mild steel | Low carbon steel - often also referred to as soft steel. Carbon content generally under 0.25% |
| Mini mill | The term 'minimill' normally refers to a scrap-based EAF route steelmaking operation of relatively small scale (usually less than 500 kt capacity / year; thus much smaller than a typical BOF plant making several million t/yr) producing long products - although the concept is increasingly finding application in flat product mills. The word 'mini' is applied both because of the relatively small scale in volume terms and because of the relatively low capital cost per tonne involved in construction [broadly ~$250/t for a minimill versus ~$1000/t for an integrated plant] |
| NACE | End-use industry classification system used in the European Union |
| National Allocation Plans, NAPs | Facility lists prepared by EU Member States that specify [by country] key installations and their CO2 emission limits |
| NDT | Non-destructive testing - refers to electronic or other methods of inspection that do not permanently affect the properties of the material |
| Nickel pigs | Iron units made from low grade pig iron produced from laterite ore (0.9% to 1.9% nickel). When the cost of refined nickel rose steeply in 2006, these 'pigs' came into popularity (especially in China) in attempts to offset high stainless steel production costs |
| Normalising | Heat treatment for relief of internal stress, based on heating and subsequent air cooling |
| Nut coke | Low ash content coke that is 10-25mm or 12-30mm [industry definitions vary] in size |
| NZE | Usually refers to a path to net zero emissions of CO2, by a certain date. The path itself is likely to much depend on the pace of innovation in new and emerging technologies; on the extent to which citisens are able or willing to change behaviour; on the availability of sustainable energy sources and other factors. |
| OBS | A unit that modifies the chemistry of liquid steel after tapping from the steelmaking furnace prior to arriving at the ladle refining furnace. Carbon and phosphorus levels are reduced by the injection of oxygen into the liquid steel by means of a submerged lance |
| OCS | Organic coated sheet |
| OCTG | Oil country tubular goods - refers to the group of steel tube products (both seamless and welded) used in vertical oil well applications such as casing, drill pipe, and well tubing. Steel Pipe & Tube Guide |
| OHF | Open hearth steelmaking furnace. A shallow hearth reverberatory furnace in which the charge is melted by flames. Once the most common type of steel making furnace, it has largely been replaced by BOF and EAF steelmaking |
| OHS | Occupational health and safety |
| Old environmental burdens | Refer to liabilities for past environmental damage, often caused during periods of previous State-ownership. In the main, the damage concerns that caused to the soil and to groundwater |
| Organic coated | Organic coating refers to paint or varnish which is added as an extra corrosion protection layer to products typically made from zinc-coated sheet |
| PAH | Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. These may be emitted during electric steelmaking to the air, and thus represent a potential health hazard in EAF operations |
| Passivation | Changing of a chemically reactive metal surface to a less reactive state, typically through chemical treatment |
| PCI | Pulverised coal injection - a process increasingly used in blast furnaces, typically offering substantial economic benefits through greater use of coal and proportionately less use of metallurgical coke |
| Pickling | Removal of mill scale by mechanical and chemical means |
| Pig iron | A key intermediate material in the integrated (converter-based) steelmaking process, pig iron is the product of smelting iron ore, coke and limestone in a blast furnace. Merchant pig iron is sometimes used as a substitute for scrap in EAF steelmaking, when there is a need to control residuals |
| PPGI | Pre-painted galvanised iron, a common term for pre-painted hot dip galvanised steel - also known as organic coated sheet [OCS] or prepainted sheet |
| PPPL | Common abbreviation for push-pull pickling line |
| Price cycle | Refers to the well-established phenomenon of cyclicality in international steel price movements. Although no cycle is ever identical, this cyclicality has in recent years been characterised by price swings from peak to trough of 25% or more, and by a periodicity (from peak to peak, or trough to trough) of approx. two years |
| Proof stress | The stress that will give rise to a specified permanent extension of the material undergoing a tensile test. The 0.2% proof stress is most commonly quoted |
| Q-Jenius | Danieli energy management system that dynamically handles energy generated from in-house renewable sources such as solar power |
| Q-One | A Danieli energy system for EAFs that uses a high-performance electricity power supply |
| Quarto Plate | Steel plate that is usually made on a one- or two-stand four-high plate mill. Quarto plate is usually wide and in straight lengths rather than coiled |
| Quenching | Rapid cooling - typically undertaken to obtained a specific property such as increased hardness of steel |
| REACH | Acronym for 'Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals', an initiative introduced by the European Commission to improve the protection of the environment from chemical hazards |
| Reduction | Chemical removal of oxygen. Thus direct reduced iron (DRI) is formed through the reduction of iron oxide |
| Reduction ratio | Typically refers to extent of area compression in the production of hot rolled bar. Reduction ratios of 15:1 used to be the norm for quality applications (e.g. engineering steels) some 10-20 years ago, but even this expectation has fallen with the advent of modern continuous casting practices. Reduction ratios as low as 8:1 are currently acceptable for many high quality long product applications |
| Refractory | Adjective refers to an ability to retain strength at high temperature. Noun describes the material. In the steel industry, refractory materials are used for furnace linings |
| Residuals | Refer to so-called tramp elements such as copper and tin, which are typically introduced into the steelmaking process in the form of unsorted or contaminated scrap and which can impair the physical and mechanical properties of steel |
| Rod | Refers to small cross-section bar, typically ~5.5 to ~13.5mm diameter that is coiled after rolling. Also known as Wire Rod. Long Steel Products Guide |
| SAF | Submerged arc furnace - a type of electric arc furnace mostly used for production of ferroalloys. The term 'submerged' refers to the arrangement whereby the furnace's electrodes are buried deep within the furnace burden |
| SALCOS | Salzgitter plan for low CO2 steelmaking, using green hydrogen and direct reduced iron together with EAF-steelmaking to replace blast-furnace based integrated steelmaking |
| SAW | Submerged arc welding - a welding process that uses the heat of an electric arc to melt an electrode held adjacent to a workpiece under a blanket of granular flux [hence 'submerged'] |
| SBQ | Special bar quality - an American term for engineering steel |
| Scale | Oxide layer which forms on a steel surface at high temperatures |
| Scarfing | The removal of surface defects, usually on semi-products by flame cutting methods. Can be carried out in-line during primary rolling when it is referred to as hot scarfing |
| Semi | Colloquialism used in reference to semi-finished steel, i.e. ingot, bloom, billet or slab |
| Sequence casting | Process of casting two or more heats of the same grade of steel in succession through a continuous caster in order to reduce yield losses |
| Sheet piling | Piling based on use of thin interlocking sheets of steel to obtain a continuous barrier in earth or sand |
| Short ton | Unit of weight commonly used in the USA and which refers to 2000 pounds. A short ton is equivalent to ~0.907 metric tonnes. See also glossary entry for tonne |
| Silicon steel | Another term for electrical steel - steel with particular electrical and magnetic properties that makes it especially suited to use in cores of electrical transformers, electrical motors, generators etc |
| Sintering | A process in which fine materials (typically iron ore fines and coke breeze) are combined into a porous mass that can be used in the blast furnace |
| Skelp | Narrow or medium-width hot rolled strip (generally 200-700mm in width) commonly used for the production of welded tube |
| Slab | Semi-finished steel product - the main intermediate material in the production of flat rolled steel. Slab, typically ~150-400 mm thick, is usually hot rolled into plate or into hot rolled coil |
| Sponge iron | A metallic product made by direct reduction of iron, via the removal of oxygen from iron ore. Sponge iron is also known as DRI, or direct reduced iron |
| SSC | Steel service centre. A typical SSC in the industrialised world may offer customers mechanical services (e.g. cutting, slitting, sawing, shearing, grinding, polishing, drilling, corrugating, edge-shaping, pressing, blanking), advisory services (CAD, material selection, testing, expert technical support) and / or inventory support (bar-coding, storage, JIT, etc) |
| SSAW | Spiral submerged arc welded pipe - a type of large diameter pipe, usually over 20 inches in diameter. Also known as HSAW pipe |
| Stainless | An alloy of carbon and iron that has a minimum chromium content of 10.5 percent |
| Steckel Mill | Sheet rolling mill that reduces steel gauge by repeated reversal of rolling action. Heated coil boxes at each end allow the steel to be reheated prior to each reversing pass through the Steckel mill's stands |
| Strand | A combination of individual steel wires that are specially twisted together. Individual strands are often combined in the manufacture of steel rope |
| Strip mill products | Hot and cold rolled steel coil, sheet and / or strip |
| Teeming | The pouring of molten metal from a ladle into an ingot mould. The economic advantages of continuous casting over ingot casting mean that the ingot-route process has largely been superseded for high volume production of steel |
| Tensile strength | The maximum load applied in a tensile test divided by the original cross-sectional area of the test piece. Also known as Ultimate Tensile Strength or Maximum Stress |
| Terne coated | Cold rolled steel that has been hot dip coated with a lead coating (usually >90% lead). The most common application of terne coated steel is car petrol tanks |
| Thin slab casting | Production of a slab approx 50 mm - 75 mm thick in a process that is integrated with hot strip casting. The thin slab casting process requires much less gauge reduction of the slab (otherwise undertaken in roughing mills starting with perhaps 250mm thick slab) and the integration with strip rolling means much reduced reheat needs (saving time and energy cost) |
| Tin foil | Thin gauge material (typically 0.016mm thick) nowadays generally made from aluminium, commonly used for food wrapping. Aluminium is preferred to tin as it is generally more pliable |
| TMT | Thermomechanical treatment |
| Toll rolling | Also referred to as hire rolling this glossary term refers to the practice of rolling steel as a service - typically by a firm that does not have ownership of the steel |
| Tonne | Unit of weight commonly used outside the USA, which refers to a metric tonne. A tonne is 1000 kilograms or ~2204.6 pounds |
| Tool steel | Carbon and alloy steels that have high resistance to abrasion. As the name suggests this product group is especially well suited to the manufacture of tools (including stamping dies, shear blades, and hand tools such as spanners, machine tool bit holders etc) |
| TOR | TOR steel bar is another term for twisted deformed reinforcing steel bar (as distinct from TMT treated steel bar) |
| tpt | Tonnes per tonne - refers to process charge as the inverse of yield loss. Thus a charge of 1.05 tpt is the starting weight for a manufacturing step with ~95% through yield |
| Tundish | A reservoir for holding liquid steel and feeding the steel in a controlled manner into a continuous casting machine |
| Turnings | Metal shavings formed during the course of metalworking. Also known as swarf |
| ULCOS | Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking |
| ULCOWIN | Ultra Low CO2 electrowinning steelmaking process. This is a low-temperature electrolysis process that produces solid state elemental iron from iron ore |
| ULSAB | Ultra Light Steel Auto Body - a joint initiative undertaken by vehicle designers and steelmakers to create a lighter stronger autobody, improve vehicle fuel efficiency and improve emission performance |
| UTS | Ultimate Tensile Strength. See Tensile Strength |
| Vacuum degassing | A secondary steelmaking operation in which the molten steel is exposed to a vacuum. It results in the removal of gases, particularly hydrogen and usually enables improved cleanness levels to be obtained |
| VAR | Vacuum Arc Remelting. A method of producing ingots with lower gas content, fewer inclusions and reduced segregation. The process consists of melting a cast or wrought electrode with a DC arc under high vacuum. Molten droplets exposed to the vacuum are collected and solidify to ingot in a water-cooled copper mould |
| VOC | Volatile organic compounds. May be released to the air as an emission during electric steelmaking - thus a potential health risk if not monitored or controlled |
| VOD | Vacuum Oxygen Decarburisation. A ladle steelmaking process in which oxygen is injected into molten steel under vacuum. This allows carbon to be removed from the steel without oxidising chromium. A method of refining stainless steel (see also AOD) |
| White goods | Reference to refrigerators, freezers, ovens, washing machines, tumble driers [often painted white] which make up a distinct steel-consuming segment (especially significant in flat products) |
| Wire drawing | The reduction in cross-section of descaled rod by progressively pulling it through dies. The resulting product has a bright surface, improved mechanical properties and closer dimensional tolerances. Distinguished from bright drawing by being a coil-to-coil process |
| Wrought iron | Iron that has a low carbon content (usually less than 0.15 per cent). Many traditional applications of wrought iron now use low carbon steel instead |
| WSA | World Steel Association. One of the leading world steel industry associations. Formerly IISI |
| Yellow goods | Reference to fork lift trucks, bulldozers, earth-moving equipment etc [typically painted yellow] which represent a distinct steel-consuming segment |
| Yield | Measure of efficiency of a steelmaking process stage, often expressed as a percentage. Typically calculated as the weight of steel produced in a given manufacturing step relative to the quantity charged |
| Yield strength | The stress at which permanent deformation occurs in a tensile test. In many steels, this point is not readily distinguishable and a proof strength value is used as an alternative (see also Proof Strength) |
No terms found matching your search criteria.
About This Glossary
This technical reference has been compiled by Metals Consulting International Limited (MCI) drawing on decades of experience in the global steel industry. The definitions are regularly updated to reflect current industry practices, emerging technologies, and evolving standards. For additional steel industry information, market analysis, or specialised consulting support, please contact our team.
Related Steel Industry Resources
Steel Industry Abbreviations
Quick reference for 250+ abbreviations covering steelmaking routes (BF-BOF, EAF), products (HRC, rebar, pipe), quality grades (AHSS, DDQ), international standards (ASTM, EN), organisations, and environmental technologies.
View Abbreviations →
Steel Essentials Guides
10 comprehensive guides covering green steel, production costs, capacity, scrap recycling, plant equipment, end-use applications, semi-finished products, flat-rolled steel, long products, and pipe manufacturing.
Browse All Essentials →